Page 32 of Caleb's Cause
The settled into the vehicle, and Duane was behind the wheel, with Laurie in the passenger seat. Katherine sat behind Duane, and Caleb was behind Laurie. For an early Sundayafternoon, the streets were crowded, so it took a few extra minutes to arrive at their destination. Duane had parked so they faced the restaurant, and as Katherine unbuckled her seat belt, she looked out the front windshield, and screamed, “Are you fucking kidding me!” Then, she dropped down so she was crouched behind the seat.
“What the hell?” Both Duane and Caleb looked at her. Laurie looked back and took Katherine’s face in her hand and stared at her.
“Breathe!” she yelled, and looked at Caleb. “Hold her head down!” She nodded when Caleb did, but when either Laurie or Duane tried to get out of the SUV, Katherine told them not to. It took roughly two minutes to get herself under control. When she felt like she could breathe easier, she looked at Caleb with a nod. She slowly sat up and sat in the center of the back seat. Duane stared at her in shock when he saw nothing but fear in her expression. It was worse than when he had first met her.
“What it is?”
“George Babcock is here.”
“Where?” Duane demanded as he looked all around, and nodded in relief. “I see Director Grayson.”
“Where?”
“There,” Duane pointed straight ahead to a man standing on the sidewalk.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Katherine looked at him in terror. “Are you saying that man in the black pants, white dress shirt, and jacket is with the FBI?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, shit, we are so fucked. I hate to swear, but we need to get the hell out of here.”
“What? Why?”
“Because that man I just described is George Babcock. See that man in the khakis, and light blue polo shirt that just joined him?”
“Yes, that’s a man I did undercover work with when I was in the FBI. I forget his name.”
“That’s Larry Mason.” She looked at Laurie. “Take their pictures. Trust me, I need a secure laptop and I can prove it. The man dressed all in black is one of the police officers from the local police station back home. The one that admitted in open court that he was going to pin Stephanie’s alcohol levels on me. Those three were the ones that showed up at my mother’s house the night I was told I had to disappear.”
“Are you shitting me?” Duane asked in shocked anger.
“No, get me a secure laptop, and I can prove it.”
“Wait,” Caleb said as he lowered his phone from taking pictures. “I don’t know much about cop stuff, but let’s believe Katherine here for a minute. Say what she is saying is true, what would that mean then?”
“It would mean there are dirty agents in the Bureau. If the information Grayson gave me about drugs, money laundering, and organized crime is true, then if they are who Katherine says they are, they are leading a double life and using their power in the Bureau to do these crimes. This would be a gigantic case.” He shook his head and looked at all of them. “It could also mean that either Grayson or Mason is, or might be, the head of the snake we talked about earlier.”
“Okay, what if we do this?”
“What?”
“What if you call your Grayson. Laurie and I can record them. If the guy in front of us answers, then we’ll have it on video.” He looked at Katherine. “Will you able to recognize Babcock and Mason’s voices?”
“Yes. But, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Have Duane call them, and I’ll record the conversation once Duane has his phone on speaker. If they are the bad guys, then Duane can make up an excuse that we can’t make it, we go home, regroup and go from there.”
“If what Katherine says is true, and I’m not doubting her, based on her reaction. Then I don’t know who to contact.”
“First, we have to find out if it’s true,” Laurie said. “Then we have an hour’s drive to get home. What if we call in reinforcements? You know, the men and women with the military experience to meet us. We tell them what happened, we get that laptop for Katherine to show us the proof. If she’s right, then we would have made the right choice. If she’s wrong, then you could always apologize and set up a meeting for later.” She turned to look at Katherine who nodded. “You said it yourself that we need to keep Katherine safe. If we don’t do this, what’s to say that she won’t be dead within the hour?”
“One thing,” Katherine said.
“What’s that?”
“You’re going to want to remove the battery from your phone. If he has your number, then you’re going to want to make sure he can’t trace you back to Erin’s Way.”
“Shit, you’re right.” Duane sat there for several seconds, then gave a decisive nod. “Okay, let’s get voice recognition first then we can head home. I have a couple ideas we can discuss on the way.” They all nodded, and Duane made sure the rearview mirror was adjusted to watch Katherine’s face as he dialed the phone. He knew by the second ring that Katherine had been right when the man he knew as Director Grayson pulled a phone from his pocket, answered it, and Katherine began to shake.
